Treadmill Desk

Dr. McCabe is actively seeking participants (i.e. any organization with a culture of sitting) to participate in research that implements fitness desks for the purpose of demonstrating measurable improvements in wellness.

Walking Desks: Chaotic attractors to Modify Behavior & Measurably Improve WellnessUsing complexity and chaos theories we discuss anticipated and actual measured effects of placing walking desks into corporate environments as part of a wellness initiative**. Just as the negative effects associated with sitting for extended periods of time – in the car, in the office, at home, etc. – are innumerable, so are the potential benefits of fitness desks in environments where people are typically seated for the sake of working at a desk and on a computer. Because we were not designed to sit all day, we propose that environments where people are typically seated (e.g. corporations, universities, government buildings and military establishments, etc.) introduce fitness desks as the chaotic attractor for modifying behavior and measurably improving wellness. Complexity theory justifies the repetition of simple behaviors create more complex patterns of behavior on a grander scale; repeatedly using a computer has become for most, a complex pattern of behavior that involves sitting. Placing a walking desk in an environment (or relatively close proximity) with an incentive program designed to attract voluntary participants will demonstrably modify behavior and produce measurably beneficial outcomes in individual and corporate wellness.